By Pope Francis. Commentary By William P Gregory. Published by Orbis Books, 2019. Reviewed by Greg Coyle

Some books are like a beautiful dessert to be consumed immediately and the memory will live on. Go Forth is not a cover-to-cover read but more like an epicurean pantry. You will need to open it regularly and use the ingredients to enrich your faith and your Christian life. It is not written as a book by Pope Francis. William Gregory has coordinated extracts of Francis’s encyclicals, speeches, writings, homilies and stories into themes to present the message of how we must live the Gospel in every aspect of our lives. Each chapter presents an angle of what mission looks like for all people who belong to the Church anywhere in the world.

Mission is the central focus of Francis’s papacy. Chapters about witness, closeness, mercy, hope, humility, joy, solidarity, peace, vitality, proclamation and accompaniment express the ideas beautifully and encouragingly. Go Forth has hundreds of references which makes it a resource for theological students. It’s a book for all thinking people and I suggest you put it in your library and savour it often.

Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 247 unpublished April 2020: 28